With the camp that University Rebellion set up on Monday on the grass near Atlas and MetaForum, the protest movement wanted to urge TU/e to stop working with the fossil fuel industry and Israeli institutions.

The demonstrators are particularly concerned about dual-use technology: knowledge that can be used in industry or society, but also by the military.

The activists involved students in their views through accessible activities, such as crafting together and screening a documentary. On Wednesday, however, the camp came to an early end.

Power 

On Monday and Wednesday (the students were not there on Tuesday), security approached the students several times because they were drawing power from the Markthal at MetaForum. “That is not permitted,” says head of security Dennis Joosten.

Joosten: “We would like students to call us when organizing actions like these, so we can think along with them. But you cannot simply draw power without permission. That is not allowed, and it can also cause disruptions, damage, or unsafe situations.”

Students, too

The students acknowledge that they used the power. “We are demonstrating, but we are also students, so we have to study. For that reason, we had our laptops plugged in for power,” says University Rebellion spokesperson Gui.

Because the students did not want to unplug the cords, security threatened to call the police. In the end, the activists voluntarily left on Wednesday afternoon, after speaking with security, without police intervention. According to Joosten, the agreement was that if the demonstrators stopped using the power, they could stay until 5 p.m. that day only.

Showing a campus card

The head of security points out that students (or employees) who want to organize an action must register the demonstration in advance. “That way, we can think along with them and see what is possible.”

“And if you demonstrate on campus, you are also expected to follow the campus rules, such as showing your campus card when asked to do so. That did not happen either, which meant we were not sure whether these were our students.”

It is a common argument made by police, municipalities, and other organizations dealing with demonstrations: that a protest must be registered in advance. The law is more nuanced than that.

Amnesty International has extensive expertise in the right to demonstrate. Press spokesperson Julia van den Muijsenberg says that “you can always hold a demonstration; you do not need permission to do so.”

“Dutch law does indeed state that you must register a demonstration. But even if you do not, the right to demonstrate is so strongly protected that the police or mayor cannot simply stop your demonstration. There must be one or more compelling reasons for doing so.”

The right to demonstrate—which stems from international law and EU legislation—takes precedence over local or national rules. There has previously also been debate about UNL’s guidelines on demonstrating on campus, which were not in line with international law.

Campus rules

Muijsenberg does point out that registering a demonstration in advance can help ensure that it is better facilitated. Amnesty has published an article specifically about demonstrations at educational institutions.

“Of course, there are campus rules governing how you are expected to behave on campus,” Muijsenberg says. “Educational institutions can establish those rules themselves, but the right to demonstrate still takes precedence.”

Amnesty is not commenting specifically on the situation at TU/e because it currently does not have sufficient knowledge of the details, but it makes the above statements about demonstrations in the Netherlands in general.

Want to know more about your right to demonstrate? See www.demonstratierecht.nl.

The University Rebellion students are disappointed with how things unfolded. They feel that the issue of drawing power was used as a reason to get them to leave.

“Last year, we also had a protest camp at TU/e, just before the end of the academic year. At the time, using power was not an issue; we also plugged our cords into the Markthal then,” says spokesperson Gui.

Joosten also regrets how the situation unfolded: “Of course, we consider the right to demonstrate important, but our responsibility is also to ensure safety.”

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.